Today, Lars von Trier begins shooting his new film(s) Nymphomaniac, which tell “the wild and poetic story of a woman’s erotic journey from birth to the age of 50.” If things go as planned, the final release will be split into two films, with hardcore and softcore versions of each. Shooting in Germany and Belgium, the project stars Charlotte Gainsbourg as Joe, the self-diagnosed nymphomaniac of the title, and the participation of Stellan Skarsgård and Shia LaBeouf is confirmed by a press release announcing the start of production.

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Lars von Trier has never been a director to shy away from anything. (Except flying.) With his next film, Nymphomaniac, he’s reportedly going all the way. According to actorShia LaBeouf, everything in the film will be done for real, meaning they’ll be shooting live sex on set. Or at least that what it sounds like. We all know LaBeouf is well-known for putting his foot in his mouth during interviews, but this time there’s non-pornographic precedent for the idea.

Nymphomaniac stars von Trier semi-regular Charlotte Gainsbourg as a woman whose sexually driven life will be followed from “her youth to age 50.” Stellan Skarsgard and Nicole Kidman also star along with the Indiana Jones and Transformers actor, who recently said he’s not interested in doing blockbusters anymore.

Leave it to Lars von Trier. The provocative Danish director is preparing to shoot his next movie, Nymphomaniac, a film which “follows the erotic adventures of a woman from her youth to age 50.” Charlotte Gainsbourg plays the woman, Stellan Skarsgard plays the man who finds her and hears her story, and Nicole Kidman has a small role. Now Shia LaBeouf is in talks to play a role as well. Read More »

What’s good for Harry Potter and Twilight is now good for cinema’s most famous provocateur, Lars von Trier. We know the director is preparing to make Nymphomaniac, in which Charlotte Gainsbourgwill play the adult version of a character whose erotic life we are shown “from the age of zero to the age of 50.”

That’s a lot of time to get across in one film, but now Trier has some space to breathe. Nymphomaniac‘s producer has revealed that the project will be split into two films, with one covering “her childhood and adolescence. The second part will deal with her adulthood.”

So, yes, that means that Lars von Trier is going to release a film dedicated to exploring the sexual life of a child. Interns at Fox News are already hard at work crafting outraged headlines. More details (on the films, not the predicted controversy) below. Read More »

The idea of presenting an ‘official synopsis’ for any given upcoming film is typically pretty dull, as these plot summaries often do little more than recap what we already know about a story. Things are a bit different, however, for a movie like Lars von Trier‘s Nymphomaniac. The director has joked about the film since his appearance last year at Cannes, but the project is no gag.

Nymphomaniac will star Charlotte Gainsbourg, making this her third film with Trier, and likely feature Stellan Skarsgard as well. The film is said to be extremely sexually explicit, with plans to release both softcore and hardcore versions to different exhibitors. A few more details on the movie came to light today, and can be found after the break.

A great deal is often made of the supposed misogyny of Danish director Lars von Trier, but despite those accusations, the guy has a track record of attracting top-notch actresses. Sure, there’s the fact that Bjork so hated the process of making Dancer in the Dark that she refused to ever work with Trier again, and in fact nearly swore off acting entirely. But on the other hand, you have someone like Charlotte Gainsbourg, who has done two films in a row with Trier (Antichrist and Melancholia) and is now looking at a third.

That latest film is The Nymphomaniac, and it is possible that the film, which has been promised as “an explicit exploration of female sexuality from ages 0 to 50,” and will reportedly be released in hardcore and softcore versions. Read a bit more info after the break. Read More »

From the ‘blown way the hell out of proportion’ file: Lars von Trier has now been questioned by Danish police over comments he made at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. The comments in question are those in which he said he sympathized with Hitler — essentially a poorly-considered moment in which he took a wrong track down a meandering train of thought in response to a question about his family history. The comments had him declared ‘persona non grata’ at Cannes and have had deeper repercussions than any of us would have anticipated.

The director has apologized for those comments, then refused to apologize, then even poked fun at the response in a promo poster for Melancholia, which bore a ‘persona non grata’ stamp. But now he’s backing off once more — from everyone. After being questioned by police, Lars von Trier has issued a statement saying that he’ll no longer speak in public or do interviews. Read More »

Lars von Trier detractors often accuse the Danish director of being little more than a provocateur, and his impetuous demeanor when dealing with the media doesn’t dispel that impression. That leads some — even our own Germain, in his review of Melancholia — to suspect that Trier’s actual films are constructed, in part, as nothing more than button-pushing exercises. I tend to believe in the director more as an imp who has a healthy, if perverse sense of humor, and who takes the opportunity to enjoy unorthodox fun when he can.

Such is the case, I suspect, with the new character posters for Melancholia.

In anticipation of the film’s UK release this weekend and October 7 VOD bow in the US (to be followed by a November 11 theatrical release) there are six new character posters for the film. They feature actors Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland, Alexander Skarsgård and John Hurt. But there’s also a poster for Lars himself, which is even stamped with a ‘persona non-grata’ seal, mocking his expulsion from the Cannes Film Festival this past May. See all six below. Read More »

When Lars von Trier‘s last film, Antichrist, played at Fantastic Fest, it unknowingly birthed the festival’s unofficial mantra: “Chaos Reigns.” Chaos reigns again in von Trier’s latest film, Melancholia, which is about two deeply depressed sisters and their personal trials during the end of the world. It stars Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg as the sisters as well as supporting roles by Kiefer Sutherland, Stellan Skarsgard, Alexander Skarsgard, John Hurt, Charlotte Rampling and more.

Chaos also reigns in a less impressive, more action-packed, take on the end times, The Day. Directed by Doug Aarniokoski and starring Dominic Monaghan, Shannyn Sossamon, Ashley Bell and Shawn Ashmore, The Day is a snap shot of 24 hours in a post-apocalyptic world. Read more about each film after the jump. Read More »